Water is one of the essential commodity of life, can there be life without water??
I will be discussing on water and it's important to man and his environment (plants and animals).
What is water??
WATER : Water is colourless, tasteless and odourless substance(chemical) that covers 71% of the earth surface I the form of ocean, sea, river, stream, Chad or lake.
CHEMICALLY
Its chemical formula is H2O, meaning that each of its molecules contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms that are connected by covalent bonds. Strictly speaking, water refers to the liquid state of a substance that prevails at standard ambient temperature and pressure; but it often refers also to its solid state (ice) or its gaseous state (steam or water vapor).
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BY GEOLOGISTS
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. It is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's crust water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of ice and liquid water suspended in air), and precipitation. Only 2.5% of this water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice (excepting ice in clouds) and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products. A greater quantity of water is found in the earth's interior.
It also occurs in nature as snow, glaciers, ice packs and icebergs, clouds, fog, dew, aquifers, and atmospheric humidity.
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Water has a cycle which most of us are familiar with, "the water cycle"
The evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation and rainfall
IMPORTANCE OF WATER
water is so important like said earlier, I'm going to be discussing on five(5) importance of water;
Transportation : Water serves as a means of transportation, it helps movement from one place to another possible and easy. This is one of the valuable means of transportation because heavy machines are imported /exported via this means.
Food : This is a source of food meaning fish, crabs, periwinkle and other aquatic food are from water.
Agriculture : Water plays 75% - 80% in agriculture, without water the seeds sown will not germinate and if it does it wouldn't produce the right results.
Pleasure : It's use for pleasure/fun, especially for sports like swimming, racing(with boats and other means), or just standing close the bank of a river and get that fresh cool breeze.
Domestic works : it's essential for domestic works like washing, cooking etc.
DESTILLLED WATER PREPARATION
The method described here is used in laboratories to prepare pure distilled water. But the basic method remains the same if you want to prepare it at home. You will need utensils of appropriate size and design for this purpose. Look at the diagram given below to have an idea.
'destilled water preparation'
Apparatus Required:
Two jars or beakers with lids, Glass tube (having openings at both ends), Capillary tube, Utensil (large enough to hold jar and ice), Burner.Explanation:
Fill one jar with ordinary tap water. Cover it with the lid. This lid must have an opening to insert the glass tube in it. Place second jar inside the utensil. This second jar should be covered with the lid having two holes in it. Now, insert a glass tube through lids of both jars to connect them with each other. Insert a small capillary tube into empty hole of lid of second jar to make it act like a chimney for steam. Second jar must be covered with ice from outside. Ice will act as a condenser for incoming steam.
The tube connecting both jars must be going deep inside the second jar.Now, boil the water of first jar. The steam will rise and enter into the second jar through the glass tube. It will get condensed into pure distilled water. Extra steam will escape through the capillary tube. The process of distillation is very slow and takes time. Therefore, one should be patient during the process.
Precautionary Measures:
- Steam can cause serious burns. Be careful.
- Use jars or beakers made from glass which can tolerate high temperature of flame and steam.
please note : the image shown above is for reference purpose only, to give a general idea about how water is distilled. Actual setup will be different. Distilled water has certain medical and industrial uses. Flooded lead acid batteries should be topped up with distilled or deionised water.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER TO THE HUMAN HEALTH
Water is very important to humans, it's plays a great role I the human system ;
- 1.) It helps in brain boosting.
- 2.) It helps the heart by preventing it from attack.
- 3.) It helps in the transportation if nutrients in the body.
- 4.) ⅔ of the human body is dependent on water.
- 5.) It's a major agent of detoxification.
- 6.) It helps in temperature regulation.
- 7.) It helps you loose wait.
- 8.) It keeps you alert.
- 9.) It makes you look healthy and fresh.
N|B : you can only have this benefit if you take excess of water.
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